One of my ongoing questions in ministry is “How do people grow as followers of Jesus?” My question is a version of the regular biblical conversation around being saved by grace as a gift of God: if we are saved freely, where does moral development come in? Practically, as a church, what are we measuring and how do we help build up that which we want to measure?

For the last three years, my personal growth has been connected to the Faithwalking (FW) program. First, I read The Leader’s Journey by Jim Herrington and Trisha Taylor. FW is based on this book was developed by the authors. I went through this book with a couple staff teams and found it brought great conversations. Then I bumped into one of the key teachings: information alone does not lead to transformation. FW challenges us to grasp that knowing content doesn’t change us unless we practice what we are taught. And practice works best when there is supportive coaching that helps reflection happen. So, I finally signed up for FW.

I have gone through the 6 sessions of FW in the last three years. Each session is 8-10 weeks following a pattern of reading the material, meeting online to have the material taught and discussed, and then a coaching session where participants share about their journey. While this pattern of reading, learning and coaching is going on, each participant commits to spending time practicing what is being learned and reflecting on how that is going. I did one session each fall and one each winter season of the last three years. Each time a session was done I had a sense of relief, mostly because there was so much to learn that I needed more time to reflect and practice without getting more material.

There were a few core learnings for me. First, I learned to pay attention to my feelings and reactions. I had been trained by life to ignore pain and simply wait for anger or anxiety to pass. FW called me to sit in those things, learn their roots and origins, and begin to move forward in more healthy responses. Next, FW encouraged me to be more authentic. By looking at what is going on inside and admitting when something is off, I have been able to grow in the ability to be comfortable with myself even in tense situations. Comfort with self helps others be comfortable too. Now, many people would suggest that I generally look pretty confident and that this was true even before FW. Well that is my third core learning: I have learned to live with integrity. Integrity is not just knowing how to look calm or confident, it is learning to be calm internally and to process times of anxiety.

In a nutshell, FW guides people to experience the kind of internal transformation that shapes our daily life experience. It takes the biblical concept of the dying away of the old self and the coming to life of the new and gives you steps to take in that direction. FW has given me renewed hope that the promises of new life can be lived out more and more.

If you are interested in going on this kind of growth journey, I invite you to consider FW. As you consider, feel free to reach out for more information. There will be a journey starting in the fall.

Pastor Erick Schuringa

What's Going On? Faith Walking - May 14, 2025